Conventional breast pumps are typically vacuum-powered to aid in breast milk collection. These pumps usually require a mother to be in isolation, fully engaged, and secured to a large vacuum pump for 30-minute sessions every 3 hours in order to express milk. Vacuum pumps can also reduce a woman's milk producing capabilities if adequate milk removal is not achieved. Many working mothers also feel guilty for taking breaks to pump, and cite that the most significant problems associated with this current methodology include lack of an adequate facility to pump, lack of time for pumping at work, and lack of time for cleaning pump equipment. Studies have shown that employment is a frequently cited barrier to breastfeeding, and working mothers experience a significantly shorter duration of breastfeeding than nonworking or part-time working mothers. Therefore, there is a growing societal and medical need for a method that allows working mothers to continue providing breast milk to their infant and there is a void for an effective and comfortable breast pump that allows a woman to discreetly collect milk.
The health benefits of breastfeeding for infants are extensive, including protection against diabetes, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, allergic reactions, infections, and many other diseases; infants who breastfeed are 60% less likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome than infants who don t receive any breast milk. Therefore, the US government has issued a call to action, strongly urging that all infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, and drink breast milk through at least one year to achieve optimal growth, development and health. The Affordable Healthcare Act now mandates that breast pumps be covered by insurance companies to aid in preventive infant care. However, of the 4 million new births per year in the US, only 24% of infants are breastfeeding at 1 year and just 15% of infants exclusively breastfeed for 6 months.
Hand-expression is an alternative technique for breast milk collection that can be performed without the aid of conventional vacuum breast pumps or other pumping technologies. Compressing the breast milk glands in a rhythmic manner is known to produce milk secretion, but the manual procedure is not as efficient as electric vacuum-based pumps due to hand fatigue. In a recent study of mothers with full-term, poorly feeding infants, hand expression did not decrease the milk volume in post-partum women in comparison to electric vacuum-based pumping, suggesting that vacuum is not necessary to initiate and maintain maternal milk supply. Further, women who used hand expression were approximately 25% more likely to be breastfeeding 2 months post partum than women who used electric vacuum-based breast pumps.
Several patents exist which enable hands-free breast milk pumping (such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,227,936, 8,307,463, 6,213,840), but none include a compressing and/or heating feature for increasing milk expression. At least two patent applications present wearable breast milk expression systems and utilize air compression technology (such as U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005/0234370 and 2006/0106334). However, the present application includes several aspects which significantly improve upon the prior art.
Accordingly, there is a need for breast pumps that can enhance milk expression and can be operated by a woman discreetly under clothing.